The Mating Intent-mobi (3 page)

“And if she does not?”

His expression darkened. “She will have no choice, Olin. Because she cannot return to her people without suffering greatly and I refuse to allow that to happen. Once she sets foot on my territory, I will protect her to my dying breath. We need her here as much as she needs us. We will be lovers once more. No matter what.”

It had been a lovely day for a hike along one of Florida’s longest and prettiest rivers, until she confronted the viper.

Pit-like eyes focused on her like lasers. Black as the fire-darkened trees in the park, the seven-foot snake coiled, its jaws yawning open to display fangs within a stark white mouth.

Keeping a firm grip on her hiking stick, Sienna Bennett stood her ground. She didn’t want to kill the snake, but didn’t relish getting bitten. Surviving a bite from a poisonous Florida cottonmouth taxed an Elf’s strength at the best of times, and her strength was spent.

She didn’t know what agitated the reptile. She was far enough away to leave it undisturbed, snoozing in the sunshine. But this snake had slithered toward her, away from the brackish water and blocked her path as she’d hiked along the river.

Sienna backed off two paces, but it followed her. Alarmed, she hoisted the stick. The snake’s peculiar behavior meant it wanted to strike and kill.

Sienna twirled the staff in her hand and spoke quietly to the cottonmouth. “I don’t wish to hurt you. You’re a creature of the earth, and this is your home. I mean you no harm. Let me pass in peace.”

Rustling noises came from the riverbank. She darted a glance at the sound, and saw something move among the mangrove roots.

Her heart stopped.

Like giant fingers, the roots of the red mangrove were pulling themselves out of the water. A thin, eerie scream followed. Sienna winced and clapped a hand over her ears.

Before her, the cottonmouth stopped its aggressive posturing. It writhed and wriggled, as if in tremendous pain. To her shock, the snake began changing, growing thicker and larger, its olive dark skin turning paler, the tube-like form growing arms and legs…

A naked man lay on the ground, twisting and arching, his eyes filled with agony, his black hair spilling down to his chest. He stretched a hand out to her.

“Help me,” he whispered.

Instinctively, she went to heal his pain, and then remembered the darkness inside her. The evil magick possessing her would only increase the shifter’s pain. Sienna dropped her hand. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”

Stomach knotting, she watched him writhe and squirm. The mangrove roots snapped out of the water and began whipping the shifter. Bloodied welts appeared on his body.

Sienna’s throat closed tight. She couldn’t heal him with her Fae magick, but neither could she idly watch him suffer. Taking her hiking stick, she thrashed the plant roots, beating them until they finally retreated.

The mangrove roots fell back into the water. Blackness spread up the roots, and the once green and yellow leaves turned black and withered, then crumbled into ash.

Not sparing time to consider the reason why, she dropped to her knees beside the snake shifter. Blood seeped from dozens of open cuts on his body. The man’s eyelids fluttered. He looked at her, anguish swimming in the dark depths of his eyes.

“Heal us, Elf. Before we all perish forever.”

And then he gasped, blood bubbling from his lips, and the light faded from his gaze.

Tears clogged her throat. Knowing her touch could not harm him now in death, Sienna gently closed his eyes. She could not leave his body here. She used her cell phone to take a photo of his body and recorded the GPS location. Sienna murmured a chant, and his body slowly disintegrated, vanishing into ash and then disappearing into the earth.

Standing, she wiped her streaming eyes. The shifter had a family somewhere. A mate, perhaps.  Maybe little ones.

As she glanced at the dead mangrove an icy chill skated down her spine. Or perhaps they, too, were already dead. Something nasty was at work. What caused the tree to attack and then die?

Gripping her stick, she continued at a light jog, not slowing until she reached the parking lot where she’d left her rental car. Sienna tossed her pack and the stick onto the back seat, started up the car and drove south.

Days ago, she’d cleansed the earth in Oregon of the evil essence that had been the Fae King’s son. She had struck her sword deep into the earth and siphoned Terithen’s evil magick inside her like a vacuum sucking up dirt.

And now she was tainted and couldn’t save anyone, let alone the snake shifter. Drawing more evil magick inside her would triple her dark powers. Then perhaps not even the sacred spring of Danu could help her.

Darkness lived within her, a cloying blackness that suffocated everything good. On some mornings, it felt like black tar sluggishly covering her body. In time, it would smother her heart and make her as twisted and evil as Terithen himself. The evil inside her was like a cat waiting to pounce on helpless prey. Not a sweet domesticated tabby, but a large predator with sharp teeth and even sharper claws.

Gabriel Sanders.

His image flickered in her mind. Gabriel with his handsome face and rugged body hiding the panther within. He moved like a sleek, exotic big cat.

Especially in bed.

She’d made one mistake 25 years ago when she’d surrendered to his erotic touch and spent three glorious nights naked in his arms. And her king had punished her for it. She had lost favor among the Elven. The only saving grace was she constantly moved around, helping to vanquish evil. Sienna seldom remained in one place.

Never again. If she had sex this time, she’d be forever banished.

She no longer straddled the thin line between darkness and light. The dark magick Terithen possessed was too powerful for her to cleanse through her usual means of fasting and meditation. Only the sacred spring of Danu was powerful enough to eliminate the evil magick inside her. The spring was in a remote corner of the tangle of swamp and trees they called the Everglades.

Unfortunately, it was guarded by Gabriel, who protected the Everglades as fiercely as he protected his little clan of shifters. She could not access it without his permission.

It was late afternoon by the time she reached the tiny town of Orchid Beach on Florida’s southeast coast. This stretch of land, the last bastion of development before the Everglades began, had been nothing but empty farmland when she’d last visited.

After a few miles she spotted a large, elegant sign reading “Sanders’ Nursery.” Sienna pulled into the parking lot. Twenty-five years ago, the nursery had been a single greenhouse. Acres of farmland had been turned into rows of cultivated palm trees, orange and lime trees. The store was a monstrous concrete building with a juice stand outside, picnic tables and even a gazebo. Cars and trucks crowded the parking lot and she had to drive to the overflow lot.

He’d turned his little operation into a commercial enterprise.

The store was bustling with customers. She had to push her way past a crowd listening to a cooking demonstration of organic vegetarian stir fry. Onions, peppers, green beans and onions filled the air. Sienna’s stomach rumbled, reminding her she hadn’t eaten since yesterday.

She made her way over to a sales clerk stocking purple orchids on a shelf next to a glass cooler holding bottled water and juice. “Can you tell me where I can find Gabriel Sanders?”

“Do you have an appointment?” The woman did not look up.

Sienna tapped a nail against the cooler. “I’m a friend.”

“Mr. Sanders is quite busy. You need to make an appointment.” The woman stepped down from the wooden ladder and faced her. Sienna caught the fragrance of wood smoke, peat moss and fresh herbs. A Fae, but not Elf like Sienna. This one was Fairy, judging from the delicate bone structure of her thin face, the huge ice blue eyes and her petite height. Her back appeared smooth, but Sienna knew that hidden within the knobby points of her shoulder blades were delicate, translucent wings that unfolded.

Sienna locked gazes with her. “Tell him I’m here. Now.”

“I most certainly will not.”

Enough of this. Sienna felt her fury surface, the darkness clawing at her to show this snotty bitch who was really in charge. Removing the stiletto from the leather sheath tucked into her belt, she held it to the Fairy’s throat.

“Here’s my appointment. Call Gabriel over or I’ll clip your wings. Permanently.”

The Fairy’s eyes widened. “Right away!”

The woman scurried off. Sienna’s hand trembled as she tucked the blade back into its sheath. She leaned against the cooler, relishing the coldness against her back, and took a minute to gather her lost composure. Silently she recited the chant Kendall had taught her long ago to balance her light magick against her dark side.

But when she caught Gabriel’s rich scent of cocoa butter, cool rain showers and musk, her knees buckled. He smelled like sex on the beach, the kind that got you real hot, bothered and aching for more.

Sienna fisted her hands, trying to control a body suddenly weak with sensual longing.

Gabriel pushed through the crowds and stood before her.

Mouth dry, she stared at him. Hair the color of darkest gold was swept back from his forehead, lying in soft waves down to his collar. He’d cut it since she’d last seen him. A well-trimmed dark gold beard and mustache accented the curve of his red, wet upper lip. Deep set green eyes studied her with cool aplomb.

Her species was tall, but Gabriel’s six feet, five inches made her feel petite. He wore sturdy tan work boots, faded jeans and an untucked blue plaid shirt. The shirt was rolled up at the elbows, displaying his tanned, strong forearms dusted with dark gold hair.

He was still devastating.

But this time, she’d resist him.

Gabriel approached and the customers parted like water to allow him through. Sienna stepped away from the cooler and threw back her shoulders.

“Hello Sienna.”

That deep, smoky voice stroked over her like the touch of his calloused hands upon her bare flesh. Sienna’s toes curled in her hiking boots as she remembered him whispering into her ear, his warm breath upon her neck as he surged deep inside her, creating such exquisite pleasure she’d screamed…

Not. Going. There.

“Gabriel.” Sienna jammed her hands into her pockets to keep from touching him. “I need a place to stay for a few days and use of the spring of Danu.”

He remained silent.

Gabriel was a big guy, solid and muscled, with a quiet demeanor. You could make the mistake of underestimating him because he seldom talked much upon first meeting someone. Then you realized he was studying you, as a cat studies a mouse he may or may not devour. His silence masked a predatory assessment, determining if you were a threat, or a tasty treat.

After spending three days of carnal delight in his bed, Sienna knew she’d already been labeled the latter.

Finally, he smiled. “Same old Sienna. Always very direct about stating your needs.”

A flush heated her face as she remembered the last time she’d stated a particular need to him, begging for him to touch her in one place…

“No point in wasting words. You never do.”

“Right.” He tilted his head, watching her. “I do have a place where you can stay. And I will allow you to have access to the spring.”

It was too easy. She tensed, watching the glint in his eyes. “Maybe before I unpack, we should go over your admission price.”

His gaze darkened and his muscled body took on a sudden intensity. She’d seen this focused concentration before, right before he’d slid deep inside her…

“No. Oh no. Hell no.”

“I haven’t told  you yet.”

“No need. I can see it here.” Sienna pointed two fingers at her eyes. “I am not spending the night with you.”

“Pixie, do you take me for someone that clichéd?” He spread out his hands, a wounded look on his face. “I thought you knew me better.”

“I do, which is why I said it.”

Gabriel sighed. “My beautiful, stubborn Elf. I would never ask you to spend the night as the price of cleansing yourself in the sacred spring.”

Sienna relaxed a little “What then? Jewels? Money? I can take out a loan.”

He ignored that. “One night in my bed would never suffice.”

Uh oh.
“Gabriel…”

Her pulse skittered a crazy beat as he began to circle her, the panther sizing up his intended prey. “I want you naked in my arms when we celebrate the Blood Moon Festival with my clan. You and I making love beneath the open sky, our cries of pleasure honoring the goddess.”

He stepped close enough for her to see the gold flecking his jade eyes. “Making love until we’re both panting and sweaty and trembling, and then doing it again. And again. And again...” 

Sienna’s heart skidded to a halt. She pressed back against the cooler, wanting to tamp down the heat his smoldering gaze created, a heat that curled through her body like smoke.

“I can’t.”

“Can’t or won’t?” Gabriel caged her between his muscled arms.

“Don’t do this to me, Gabriel. I’ll give you anything…”

“Anything?” His gaze glittered with male intent.

“Anything that requires a charge card and purchases. Anything that doesn’t require me to get naked.”

“We could be inventive and leave your clothes on.” His green eyes twinkled with mirth and she sagged against the cooler for support, her palms splayed against the glass.

Gabriel’s grin dropped. He cupped her elbow. “Gods, you look famished. When was the last time you ate?”

“Oh, a century or two ago.”

At her dismissive hand wave, he frowned. “We’ll discuss the terms of your surrender over dinner, after I get you settled.”

“I never surrender.”

“Terms are non-negotiable. Capitulation to my home-cooked vegetarian stew with organic carrots and beans. And you need a good night’s sleep.” At her wide-eyed look, he added, “Alone. I want you fully charged and ready for me.”

“Gabriel, I’m not a battery.”

“No, but you did enjoy some toys that ran on them.”